Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-04-10
''GOOd-by, Brownie"
AAE M

danced on into the small hours, anC
Brownie was the mGrTiest of them all. Sh'
telt worried privately about the quarrel
yet she WAS sure he would come bacl
next morning.
But Robert Edgerly did not come back
II he had waited till morning he would
come. lie would not have had the hear
To do what he did. But he was angry. 4
train lett LinwOOd in two hours. 1t con
nectcd with the midnight western expires.
at ChestertOn. When BrOwniecame home
and went sleepily up stairs next morning
he WA already 100 miles away. lie had
temper, when it was mp.
Brownie came down from her late sleeI
at noon, weary, pale and a little cross.
II didn't like to disturb You before, =
said Shirley, but here's n note Robert
sent me. You will know what it means
| suppose"
IL Was a brief note OF farewell. lie haC
started for the Pacific, he wrote. The jour
ney was an unexpected one and he was SOr
~ to leave. but Brownie could explain
matters.
SO he was gonel
Brownie read the letter again and again,
to make sure. She was dazed. When ri
last she could help knowing the truth she
leaned her head upon Shirley's faithful
shoulder, and cried to break her heart.
81 never thought he'd 90. | never
thought it," she Sobbed. I'll only teased
him for the fun of it"
The trouble was not any easier for her to
bear, either, ~ the days went On and the
tail lover did not come back. She clung
for long against reason To the hope that his
heart would fail at the last, and he would
yet return before the vessel sailed.
Christmas came and went. Christmas
was to have been her wedding day. The
winter heightened into spring, still no
word from the miSsin one. Then Brownie
gave mp looking for him.
So il was not to he all peaches and cream
for her. She still wore his ring, the quaint
circlet of turquoise and f~orget-me-not he
had placed on her finger that day in the
autumn woods. She did not know where to
send it To him. Not a word had come.
She waited awhile and then rallied, this
inconsistent young lady did, bitterly
against the talSeneSs, the heartleSsneSs OF
the masculine sex. She carried it oil
brayely enough among her Young friends.
Ii was easy to say that they had quarreled
and he had gone OfFina hutfand wasn't com
ing back. She meant 10 do rs she liked,
sweet heart or no sweetheart, and gentle
men who didn't approve her ways needn't,
that was all.
But she fretted secretly, nevertheless,
and pinned viSibly. She had been more in
earnest in caring for Robert Edgerly than
in anything in her butterfly life before.
With Shirley she broke down and did not
deny that she was fretting her life ont.
Shirley laughed at her and rallied her to
keep up her spirits.
Really, do you think he will ever come
back, Shirley?n she asked her sister.
Cant say, probably not. But don't
worry about it. Get another lover. That's
the best way for a young lady to cure a
broken heart. You've plenty of admirers,
I'm sure"
"But they are all such stupids after
him
"YOu ought TO hsve considered that he
fore Won leased him so"
"But | never thought he would 90 of in
earnest. They always do come hack
They seem to like it. He's the first man
ever saw that l couldn't manage as
pleased
"Youare getting knowledge OF the world,
then, Notwithstanding your stock OF
experience. You are getting your eyes
opened"
~ don't wantthem opened. 1t iSn'tthe
fair thing for such trouble To happen to
me" said this spoiled child.
''It's what we all come to-" answered
Shirley, with sudden gravity.
Il was true that Brownie had many al.
mirers. She had not the sisters marvellous
heauty, the splendid face that, once seen,
men and women turn to look at again
that once seen, remained q picture in
memory to eternity. But Brownie had
the pretiineSS that attracted common men
far oftener. On the whole, it suited her
better, too.
Adorers buzzed about her in numbers
after Edgerly had departed. Undoubtedly
she would have eonSOled herself in time.
1t may or may not be anything against her
in the estimation Of lady readers TO tell
that on her. Nevertheless, truth is mighty.
The truth will weigh nothing against her
with the gentle masculine reader-we
know that.
As it was, however, Brownie refused to
be cOmfOrted for q whole twelyemOnth.
That was a long time.
Shirley's tender, watchfnl soul was
troubled about her sister. She tried in all
her loving lively ways to change her
thought. She filed in the evenings with
gay company and kept the girl out in the
sunshine by day. She invented errands
for her here and there.
SO the summer wore on into the fall,
quite n wear since Robert had rushed on
in huff. II was indeed a year to a day.
That very day Shirley sent Brownie 10 old
Nine. Frenchy's cottage across the wood
lands.
Brownie had = great fancy for jewels and
bright bits of color about her. 1t was q
lOnginheritanc from red blOOded ancestry.
She was fond of rings, and wore half a
dozen sometimes. Again she was braceleted
like an Indian princess and necklaced to
match. With all these, too, such a vivid,
flashing, quick moving eFef ture vas
| Brownie, she did not look oyerdone.
This afternoon il suited her fancy To rio